THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 59 



deeper cleft calyces, upward protracted appendages of the corolla- 

 lobes, the style bearing hairlets, proportionately broader and more 

 compressed fruits, seeds membrane paler and without lustre. Also 

 in some respects cognate to G. Donnelli. 



THE PRIZE COMPETITION FOR NATURAL 

 HISTORY SPECIMENS. 

 To the Editor of the Victorian Naturalist. 

 Dear Sir, — I was gratified to notice the list of prizes offered by the 

 Club for the best collections in Natural History specimens. Such 

 a step surely will enhance the usefulness of the Society. A few years 

 ago I mentioned in committee the advisability of offering prizes 

 for essays on Natural History. The idea was not entertained. 

 However, the sequel proves I was only a little before my time. 

 There is not much difference between prizes for essays and prizes 

 for collections. But there appears to be a great hiatus in the 

 schedule. Birds are not mentioned. I can quite understand the 

 committee being over anvious in what might lead to the des- 

 truction of useful birds. But the difficulty may be overcome by 

 offering a prize for the best essay on " Original Notes on Birds 

 Common to Victoria," not to exceed, say, 2,000 words. I hope 

 it is not too late for the committee to make this addendum to 

 their schedule.— Yours, &c, A. J. CAMPBELL. 



THE WHISTLING MOTH. 



The habit of producing sound is met with in but few kinds of 

 lepidopterous insects, and quite rarely is this sound of the nature 

 of stridulation. And this being so the (act that a small but 

 select series of Buderum Mountain insects, brought last year to 

 the Queensland Museum by Mr. W. Riebe, contained — as their 

 donor pointed out — a sound-producing moth, was not without 

 interest. This insect was afterwards recognized by the present 

 writer as being Hecatesia fenestrata, Boisduval (Fam. Zygoenidse), 

 from acquaintance with the figures of this and the allied species 

 H. thyridion, Feisthamel, in Appendix F. (by — White) to Sir 

 George Grey's " Journals of two Expeditions of Discovery in 

 North-west and West Australia." It would appear that even prior 

 to 1 841, the date of publication of this work, the special noise 

 emitted by Hecatesia fenestrata had been noticed, and the special 

 mechanism connected with its production pointed out ; although 

 this fact has escaped the notice of more recent writers on entomo- 

 logical subjects, not excepting Hagen, until that keen observer, 

 the late Henry Edwards, visited Australia in 1889, and afterwards 

 recorded, in " Insect Life," vol. ii., his personal observations. The 

 remarks he makes are of such interest that no apology is needed 

 for their being appended to this note. He writes concerning II. 

 fenestrata : — " During my residence in Australia I was collecting 



